Medlcinal PLANTS of JAMAICA. PARTS 1 &
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MEDlCINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA. PARTS 1 & 11. By G. F. Asprey, M.Sc., Ph.D. (B'ham.), Professor of Botany, U.C.W.l. and Phyllis Thornton, B.Sc. (Liverpool), Botanist Vomiting Sickness Survey. Attached to Botany Depart- ment, U.C.W.l. Reprinted from the West Indian Medical Journal. Vol. 2 No. 4. Vol. 3 No. 1. MEDICINAL PLANTS OF JAMAICA G. F. ASPREY AND PHYLLIS THORNTON PART I The use of local plants for medicinal remedies is a very prevalent practice in Jamaica. Among the poorer families, the morning meal frequently consists of nothing more than a cup of bush-tea prepared by steeping the leaves in hot water, with perhaps a small piece of bread or a little corn meal porridge. It is perhaps significant that the term breakfast is not used but 'taking' or ‘drinking' tea is substituted. Many of the plants used for treatment of colds and indigestion also provide the normal morning drinks. The large number of 'cold', 'fever' (which includes malaria) and 'indigestion' remedies is of some interest as providing a guide to the frequency of these complaints. The claims made for some of the plants may occasionally be justified by their chemical constituents. Some of them are, or have been, in the pharmacopoeias. On the other hand, in many cases the claims either have little justification or remain to be substantiated. Many of the doses used are of an unpleasant and even drastic nature. This may account for their popularity in view of the general impression that medicine must be unpleasant to be efficacious. The plants used as home remedies are frequently known only by their common names which may vary from district to district. Furthermore, different plants often have the same common name. This difficulty has been met by collecting specimens and determining their correct Latin name. By this means a useful reference herbarium of bush-tea plants is gradually being assembled in the Department of Botany of the University College of the West Indies. In addition to local information on the plants so far identified, reference has been made to the publications cited in the bibliography. Some attempt has been made to record usages in other areas of the Caribbean and in Africa as perhaps showing relationship with Jamaican practices. Upwards of one hundred and sixty species of plants distributed through sixty-two plant families will be dealt with in detail. The families (Acanthaceae to Zygophyllaceae) with the Latin names of the relevant species are arranged alphabet- ically. Common names .are included with that most frequently used, or that recommended for adoption by the authors, in bold type. Further work will, no doubt, add considerably to this list. In order to obviate constant repetition in the text of references to the literature, it has been decided to number the authors consecutively in the bibliography *. When an author has dealt with a particular plant from the medicinal or biochemical point of view, the corresponding number appears in parenthesis after the description of the plant. For purposes of easy reference, it is proposed to issue the following appendices: I. A list of the botanical names of Jamaican medicinal plants. Their names will be numbered consec- utively and arranged in alphabetical order, irrespective of the family to which a plant belongs. The family and the common name or names will, however, be given under separate headings. II. A list of the common names of the Jamaican medicinal plants with cross reference to the botanical names. III. A list of 'complaints' arranged alphabetically with the botanical name of the plants known to be used as remedies. REFERENCE LIST OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN JAMAICA ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF FAMILIES ACANTHACEAE A family of some two thousand herbaceous and woody species of warm regions but relatively few appear to have been analysed. Among them are many Javanese medicinal plants. Small amounts of alkaloids, the nature of which is not precisely known, occur and also bitter principles. The latter include andrographid, kalmeghin and rhinacanthin. *The bibliography will appear at the end of Part II. ANDROGRAPHIS PANICULATA Nees. Rice Bitters; Wild Rice. Used in Jamaica to prepare a general beverage and in treatment of fever and colds. The tops are very bitter and have been said to contain a bitter principle andrographid (C15H2704) which is not a glycoside. According to other analyses the bitter is andrographolid (C20H3005) while still others indicate the presence of two bitter principles, one a yellow crystalline substance (C19H28O5, m.-pt. 206°) which is not an alkaloid or glycoside and the other called kalmeghin (C19H5105 m.-pt. 180°). The presence of traces of essential oils, tannin and an alkaloid has also been indicated. The tops are rich in potassium. (3, 14, 27). BLECHUM BROWNEI Juss. Wild Hops; John Bush. Steggerda reports the use of this species in baths and for sore feet. (25). DIANTHERA PECTORALIS Murr. Fresh Cut; Garden Balsam. Probably acquired its common name from the use made of it in the treatment of cuts. The leaves are bruised, alone or with rum, and applied as a plaster. Tea made with the leaves is taken for colds. Beckwith reports its use as a tea for colic in babies and for consumption. In the latter case it is boiled with love weed (Cuscula), an orange is added and the drink is sweetened. In Trinidad this plant is called garden balsam and is sold in the markets as a cold remedy. (2). AMARANTACEAE About five hundred species of wide distribution. Many are rich in potassium nitrate and betaine. Some are cultivated as vegetables and ornamental plants. ACHYRANTHES INDICA Mill. Devil's Horsewhip; Ridingwhip or Backbone; Colic Weed; Hug-me-close. A common Jamaican weed used to make tea for colic and colds. For the latter purpose it may be mixed with Mimosa pudica. In the Grenadines the leaves and roots are made into a tea for infants with colds and for under-nourished children. Achyranthes spp. are used in Africa for fever, coughs, nausea, pains in the chest and side, and as a diuretic. (2, 25. 13). AMARANTUS SPINOSUS L. Prickly Calalu; Spinach. A. TRISTIS L. Spanish Calalu. A. VIRIDIS L. Green or Garden Calalu; Spinach; Caruru. A. viridis and A. spinosus and perhaps the third species are among the most common green vegetables in Jamaica. Calalu is said to be 'good for the bowels'. A. viridis contains vitamin C, tannin, resin and reducing sugars. It is similarly used in parts of Africa where the leaves provide poultices for abscesses and boils. A. spinosus is also used as a potherb. All three species are used as spinach in Trinidad, A. viridis being cultivated for the purpose. (15, 17). IRESlNE PANICULATA Kuntze. Juba's Bush. Said, by Beckwith, to be used for colds, pain in the bowels and colic and as a drink for a woman in childbirth. For the latter purpose it is made into tea with Piper nigrinodum, salt, and a few drops of whisky. In other cases either a tea or the juice is used. Steggerda says it is used also for dropsy. (25). AMARYLLIDACEAE A family of about nine hundred and fifty species many of which have poisonous alkaloids especially in the bulbs. Essential oils, fatty oils, saponins, inulin, sucrose and organic acids occur. HIPPEASTRUM PUNICEUM (Lam.) Urban. Red Lily; Maroon Lily. The bulb of this species is used to make a plaster with bread or, with Eryngium foetidum, for use on swellings and sores. (2). ANACARDIACEAE About five hundred species of woody plants of tropical and temperate regions. Resin ducts are present and fats, tannins, resins and pigments are widely distributed in bark, wood, seeds and leaves. Alkaloids, glycosideii, saponins and essential oils are, with few exceptions, absent. ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE L. Cashew. Beckwith reports the use of cashew leaves in combination with Dryopteris sp.. rat ears (Peperomia pellucida, Kth.) and maidenhair fern in the treatment of colds and 'any sickness at all'. A plant of each of the last three is wrapped in a wad with three cashew leaves and boiled in water. Cashew leaves are sometimes used in bush baths for fever, Barham recommended the use of a leaf decoction to bathe ulcers, and in some parts of Africa young leaves are used in the treatment of dysentery, diarrhoea and piles, while infusions of the leaves and bark are used for dysentery, toothache and sore gums. Such infusions are astringent. The bark contains tannin. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the astringent cashew apple or the expressed juice (fermented or in wine) were considered valuable in treatment of gastric or uterine disorders and dropsy. The ripe fruit is said to be diuretic and antiscorbutic, while some consider that punch prepared from it is an aphrodisiac. The shell of the nut contains gallic acid and an acrid red-brown oil containing cardole (C32H52O8) and anacardic acid, (C2~ H:J~08)' This oil is a vesicant and has been used to remove warts, corns, freckles, 'worms in ulcers' (Barham), chigoes, and. in parts of Africa for carious teeth. The pericarp oil is said to contain 10 per cent cardole which is the caustic principle. Anacardium gum is similar to gum acacia and has been used in a similar manner. The seeds (cashew nuts) contain 40 to 50 per cent fatty oil. (2, 5. 7. 8, 14. 15, 18, 24, 26, 27). MANGIFERA INDICA L. Manqo. It seems doubtful if this species is much used medicinally in Jamaica but the fruit contains vitamins A. Band C and traces of D. Black mangoes particularly are said to be laxative. Leaves are used in baths.